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Sunday December 22, 2013 9:06 AM

NEW YORK — A public-relations executive for the prominent New York-based Internet media company
IAC lost her job yesterday after she posted a message joking about AIDS in Africa and race on her
Twitter account, sparking an online furor.

“Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Justine Sacco, who was IAC’s
corporate communication director, wrote in a message on Twitter on Friday, shortly before taking
flight.

The Twitter account has since been deleted, though not before the message was widely circulated
online.

Twitter users have posted thousands of comments about the message. Some called the message
racist and insensitive. Others defended it as an unsuccessful, yet forgivable, attempt at
humor.

Many users wondered whether Sacco would still have her job after her flight landed.